The Canadian anthem was given short shrift at the All-Star Game

Justin Morneau is a bit miffed at last night's pregame protocol which had Sheryl Crow singing the United States' national anthem, but merely a pre-recorded instrumental version of "O Canada":

"I wasn't very impressed with that to tell you the truth. You figure they could find somebody to come and sing the song. They have a hockey team here, the Canadian teams play here. It's something that didn't really go over too well. I think if it happened the other way around, if they were playing in Toronto and they did that, it would have been a lot bigger deal. But nothing you can do about it."

He's absolutely right to note that people here would be freaking the hell out if they dissed "The Star Spangled Banner" like that. And even if there weren't many Canadians present -- other than Morneau, dual citizen Jason Bay was the only other Canuck on either of the rosters -- "O Canada" is a beautiful song in its own right, and deserved the same treatment as the U.S. anthem.

I somehow suspect that U.S.-Canadian relations will survive this incident without shots being fired, but still: bad form, baseball.